Santa Maria in Aracoeli

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Santa Maria in Aracoeli

The Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven () is a titular

Titulus

In Christian archeology, a titulus is one of a set number of churches of Rome#Ancient churches built round the edges of the city of Rome, which were ascribed to patrons, whose names often identified them:...
basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a ancient Rome public building , usually located in the Forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC....
in Rome

Churches of Rome

There are more than 900 Churches in Rome. Most, but not all, of these are Roman Catholic, with some notable Roman Catholic Marian churches....
, located on the highest summit of the Campidoglio. It is still the designated Church of the Italian Senate and the Roman people (Senatus Populusque Romanus
SPQR

SPQR is an Acronym and initialism from a Latin phrase, Senatus Populusque Romanus , referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic, and used as an official signature of the government....
). The present Cardinal Priest of the Titulus Sancta Mariae de Aracoeli is Salvatore Cardinal De Giorgi

Salvatore Cardinal De Giorgi

Salvatore De Giorgi is an Italian Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo in Sicily.De Giorgi was born in Vernole, in Apulia ....
.
History
Originally the church was named Santa Maria in Capitolo, since it was sited on the Capitoline Hill

Capitoline Hill

The Capitoline Hill , between the Roman Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome of Rome. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Campidoglio in the Romanesco....
(Campidoglio) of Ancient Rome; by the 14th century it had been renamed.

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Encyclopedia

The Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven () is a titular

Titulus

Basilica

Churches of Rome

Salvatore Cardinal De Giorgi

Salvatore De Giorgi is an Italian Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo in Sicily.De Giorgi was born in Vernole, in Apulia ....
.

Cavallini Fresco Aracoeli Antmoose Cropped

History

Originally the church was named Santa Maria in Capitolo, since it was sited on the Capitoline Hill

Capitoline Hill

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, Mirabilia Urbis Romae
Mirabilia Urbis Romae

Mirabilia Urbis Romae is a much-copied medieval Latin text that served generations of pilgrims and tourists as a guide to the city of Rome....
, which claimed that the church was built over an Augustan Ara primogeniti Dei, in the place where the Tiburtine Sibyl

Tiburtine Sibyl

The Tiburtine Sibyl was a Ancient Rome sibyl, whose seat was the ancient Etruscan civilization town of Tibur .The mythic meeting of Caesar Augustus with the Sibyl, of whom he inquired whether he should be worshiped as a god, was a favored wiktionary:motif of Christian artists....
prophesied to Augustus the coming of the Christ

Christ

Christ is the English language term for the Greek meaning "the anointing", which is a title given to the Reigning Messiah in the given age of the Zodiac....
. "For this reason the figures of Augustus and of the Tiburtine sibyl are painted on either side of the arch above the high altar" (Lanciani chapter 1). A later legend substituted an apparition of the Virgin Mary. In the Middle Ages, condemned criminals were executed at the foot of the steps; there the self-proclaimed Tribune and reviver of the Roman Republic Cola di Rienzo

Cola di Rienzo

Cola di Rienzo or di Rienzi was an Italian medieval politician and popular leader, tribune of the Roman people in the mid-14th century....
met his death, near the spot where his statue commemorates him.

It is possible that the church was built over the temple of Juno Moneta

Juno (mythology)

File:Juno sospita pushkin.jpgJuno was an Roman religion, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Juventas, Mars , and Vulcan ....
, built over the Arx

Arx (Roman)

An Arx was a Roman citadel; the term was also used to refer to the northern hump of the two forming the Capitoline Hill of ancient Rome, where an arx once stood....
. The other hypothesis is that the church replaced the auguraculum, the seat of the augur

Augur

The augur was a priest and official in the classical world, especially ancient Rome and Etruscans. His main role was to interpret the will of the gods by studying the flight of the birds , known as "taking the auspices." The ceremony and function of the augur was central to any major undertaking in Roman society--public or private--includi...
s.

The foundation of the church was laid on the site of a Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
abbey mentioned in 574; at first it followed the Greek rite, a sign of the power of the Byzantine exarch. Taken over by the papacy by the 9th century, the church was given first to the Benedictines

Order of Saint Benedict

The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent Christian monasticism Cenobium that observe the Rule of St. Benedict....
, then, by papal bull to the Franciscan

Franciscan

The term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic religious orders that follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St....
s in 1249–1250; under the Franciscans it received its Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is the term that is used to describe the architecture of Middle Ages Europe which evolved into the Gothic architecture style beginning in the 12th century....
-Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late Middle Ages. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
aspect. The arches that divide the nave

Nave

In Romanesque architecture and Gothic architecture Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and Church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar....
from the aisles are supported on columns, no two precisely alike, scavenged from Roman ruins. During the Middle Ages, this church became the centre of the religious and civil life of the city. in particular during the republican experience of the 14th century, when Cola di Rienzo

Cola di Rienzo

Cola di Rienzo or di Rienzi was an Italian medieval politician and popular leader, tribune of the Roman people in the mid-14th century....
inaugurated the monumental stairway of 124 steps in front of the church, designed in 1348 by Simone Andreozzi, on the occasion of the Black Death

Black Death

The Black Death, was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis , but recently attributed by some factors to other diseases....
.

In 1571, Santa Maria in Aracoeli hosted the celebrations honoring Marcantonio Colonna

Marcantonio Colonna

Marcantonio Colonna , Duke and Prince of Paliano, was an Italian people general and admiral....
after the victorious Battle of Lepanto

Battle of Lepanto (1571)

The Battle of Lepanto took place on 7 October 1571 when a galley fleet of the Holy League , a coalition of the Republic of Venice, the Pope , Spain , the Republic of Genoa, the Duchy of Savoy, the Knights Hospitaller and others, decisively defeated the main fleet of Ottoman Empire war galleys....
over the Turkish fleet. Marking this occasion, the compartmented ceiling was gilded and painted (finished 1575), to thank the Blessed Virgin for the victory. In 1797, with the Roman Republic

Roman Republic (18th century)

The Roman Republic was proclaimed on February 15, 1798 after Louis Alexandre Berthier, a general of Napoleon I of France, had invaded the city of Rome on February 10....
, the basilica was deconsecrated and turned into a stable.

Interior

The original unfinished façade has lost the mosaics and subsequent frescoes that originally decorated it, save a mosaic in the tympanum

Tympanum (architecture)

A tympanum is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance bounded by a lintel and arch. It often contains sculptures or other ornaments....
of the main door, one of three doors that are later additions. The Gothic window is the main detail that tourist can see from the bottom of the stairs, but it is the sole truly Gothic detail of the church.

The church is built in three naves that are divided by Roman columns, all different, taken from diverse antique monuments. Among its numerous treasures are Pinturicchio

Pinturicchio

Bernardino di Betto, called Pintoricchio or Pinturicchio was an Italy Painting of the Renaissance.He was born in Perugia, the son of Benedetto or Betto di Blagio....
's 15th-century frescoes depicting the life of Saint Bernardino of Siena

Bernardino of Siena

Saint Bernardino of Siena was an Italy priest, preacher, Franciscan missionary and Christianity saint....
in the Cappella Bufalini, the first chapel on the right. Other splendid features are the wooden ceiling, the inlaid cosmatesque

Cosmatesque

Cosmatesque style is a style of floor-making typical of Medieval era Italy, and especially of Rome and its surroundings. The name derives from Cosmati, one of the groups of marble craftsmen who created works by taking marble from ancient Roman ruins, and arranging the fragments in geometrical decorations....
floor, a Transfiguration painted on wood by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta

Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta

Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta was an Italy Mannerism painter active in Rome in the mid 1500s.Native to Sermoneta, he was reputed to have been a pupil of Leonardo da Pistoia....
, the tombstone of Giovanni Ceivelli by Donatello

Donatello

Donatello was a famous early Renaissance Italy artist and sculpture from Florence. He is, in part, known for his work in bas-relief, a form of shallow relief sculpture that, in Donatello's case, incorporated significant 15th-century developments in perspectival illusionism....
, the tomb of Cecchino Bracci, designed by his friend Michelangelo

Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance Painting, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer....
, and works by other notable artists like Pietro Cavallini

Pietro Cavallini

Pietro Cavallini was an Italian painter and mosaic designer working during the late Middle Ages. Little is known about his biography, though it is known he was from Rome, since he signed pictor romanus....
(now only one among his frescoes survives), Benozzo Gozzoli

Benozzo Gozzoli

Benozzo Gozzoli was an Italy Renaissance Painting from Florence. He is best known for a series of murals in the Palazzo Medici depicting festive, vibrant processions with wonderful attention to detail and a pronounced International Gothic influence....
and Giulio Romano

Giulio Romano

Giulio Romano was an Italy Painting and Architecture. A prominent pupil of Raffaello Santi, his stylistic deviations from high Renaissance classicism help define the 16th-century style known as Mannerism....
. It houses also a Madonna and a sepulchral monument by Arnolfo di Cambio

Arnolfo di Cambio

Arnolfo di Cambio was an Italy architect and sculpture....
in the transept

Transept

Full descriptions of the elements of a Gothic floorplan are found at the entry Cathedral diagram.'For the periodical go to The Transept....
.

The church was also famous in Rome for the wooden statue of the infant Jesus (Santo Bambino), carved in the 15th century of olive wood coming from the Gethsemane

Gethsemane

Gethsemane is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem believed to be the place where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before Crucifixion of Jesus....
garden and covered with valuables ex-voto. Many people of Rome believed in the power of this statue. The statue was stolen in February 1994, and never recovered. Nowadays, a copy is present in the church. It is housed in its own chapel by the sacristy. At midnight Mass on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, December 24, is the night before Christmas Day, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ ....
the image is brought out to a throne before the high altar and unveiled at the Gloria
Gloria

Gloria may refer to:...
. Until Epiphany

Epiphany (Christian)

File:WiseMenAdorationMurillo.pngAfterfeast: The Feast of Theophany is followed by an eight-day Afterfeast on which the normal fasting laws are suspended....
the jewel-encrusted image resides in the Nativity crib in the left nave.

The relics of Saint Helena

Helena of Constantinople

Saint Helena also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople was the consort of Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I....
, mother of Constantine the Great are housed at Santa Maria in Aracoeli, as are the remains of Saint Juniper, one of the original followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. Pope Honorius IV

Pope Honorius IV

Pope Honorius IV , born Giacomo Savelli, was Pope for two years from 1285 to 1287. During his unremarkable pontificate he largely continued to pursue the pro-French policy of his predecessor, Pope Martin IV ....
and Queen Catherine of Bosnia

Katarina Kosaca-Kotromanic

Katarina Kosaca Kotromanic was the Queen consort of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the wife of Stephen Thomas of Bosnia. She was a daughter of Stjepan Vukcic Kosaca, duke of Hum, and Jelena Bal?ic, granddaughter of Serbian Prince Lazar....
are also buried in the church. The tablet with the monogram of Jesus

Christogram

A Christogram is a monogram or combination of letters that forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ, traditionally used as a Christian symbolism....
that Saint Bernardino of Siena

Bernardino of Siena

Saint Bernardino of Siena was an Italy priest, preacher, Franciscan missionary and Christianity saint....
used to promote devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus

Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus

The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus has been celebrated in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, at least at local levels, since the end of the fifteenth century....
is kept in Aracoeli.

Burials

Katarina Kosaca-Kotromanic
Katarina Kosaca-Kotromanic

Katarina Kosaca Kotromanic was the Queen consort of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the wife of Stephen Thomas of Bosnia. She was a daughter of Stjepan Vukcic Kosaca, duke of Hum, and Jelena Bal?ic, granddaughter of Serbian Prince Lazar....

Santa Maria in Aracoeli

History

Interior

Burials

See also